Learn about icons, emoji & Unicode

Short, practical explainers — what emoji really mean, how Unicode works, and how to ship icons well.

😄 Emoji meanings 12

What the internet’s favourite emoji really mean — and how to use them without the awkwardness.

Literally a flame, but online it overwhelmingly means something is excellent, exciting or “hot” — a great photo, a strong opinion, a trending drop.

Used to say “I’m dead” from laughing — something is so funny or cringe it metaphorically killed you. Gen Z’s replacement for 😂.

Laughing so hard you cry. Once the most-used emoji in the world; still the universal “that’s hilarious”.

Big puppy-dog eyes: asking nicely, feeling touched, or being adorably overwhelmed.

Newness, magic, celebration — and, wrapped around words, playful ✨emphasis✨ or gentle sarcasm.

Total agreement or perfection — “keep it 100”, “absolutely”.

Please, thank you, or prayer depending on culture. In Japan it’s a bow of thanks; elsewhere often “fingers crossed”.

Watching closely: curiosity, anticipation, or noticing some drama.

Slowly dissolving from heat, embarrassment, or sheer overwhelm — sarcastic calm while everything falls apart.

Pondering, doubting, or quietly questioning something.

Hands forming a heart: affection, gratitude and support, warmer than a plain ❤️.

Agreement, partnership or a deal done.

How characters, emoji and symbols are represented under the hood.

Unicode is the universal catalogue that gives every character — letters, symbols and emoji — a unique number, so text looks the same on every device.

Practical guides for picking, formatting and shipping icons in real projects.

SVG scales infinitely and can be recolored with CSS; PNG is a fixed bitmap that works everywhere. Here’s how to pick.

Three reliable ways to put an icon on a web page — from a one-line <img> tag to inline SVG you can style.